German Published Patent Application No. 201 02 197, for example, describes a touch screen for visually representing electronic signals and for touch input of signs and symbols for confirmation purposes, the touch screen including a functional plane for visual representation and keystroke input, and a higher-level protective plane corresponding thereto that is deformable at certain points. In this context, when certain points of the functional plane are selected by touching contact across the protective plane, at least one confirmation signal is generated at the position of the point of contact in the deformed protective plane so as to be perceptible for the user's sense of touch (haptic stimulus), and the confirmation signal for the sense of touch (haptic stimulus) is generated by vibration elements eccentrically positioned within and/or underneath the functional plane. In addition, in the touch screen, the generated vibrations are transmitted from the functional plane to the protective plane as the result of direct contacting of the two planes and/or via the edge regions of the planes by way of rigid or elastic connecting elements.
Touch screen are also described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,565 and European Published Patent Application No. 0 920 704. Suitable touch screens may be purchased from 3M™ (cf. www.3m.com), for example. Additional details of touch screens are described in European Published Patent Application No. 1 560 102, for example.
In German Published Patent Application No. 201 80 024 and PCT International Published Patent Application No. WO 01/54109, a touch-sensitive control featuring haptic feedback for inputting signals into a computer and for outputting forces to a user of the touch-sensitive control is described for haptic feedback, the touch-sensitive control having a touch-sensitive input device which has a virtually planar touch-screen surface that is operated such that, on the basis of a position on the touch-screen surface touched by a user, a positional signal is input into a processor of the computer, the positional signal reproducing the position in two dimensions. The touch-sensitive control described in PCT International Published Patent Application No. WO 01/54109 also has at least one actuator connected to the touch-screen input device, the actuator outputting a force to the touch-screen input device to provide the user touching the touch-screen surface with a haptic sensation, the actuator outputting the force directly to the touch-screen input device on the basis of force information output by the processor.
Haptic feedback is also described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,429,846, PCT International Published Patent Application No. WO 03/038800, U.S. Pat. No. 5,988,902, PCT International Published Patent Application No. WO 99/26230, PCT International Published Patent Application No. WO 97/21160, German Published Patent Application No. 200 22 244, and PCT International Published Patent Application No. WO 03/41046.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,118,435 describes a touch panel.
German Published Patent Application No. 197 31 285 describes an operating element for a device having a plurality of selectable menus, functions, and/or functional values, which has a surface that is visible to the user and via which the selection may be made by a local movement or touching contact of the operating surface. The form of the surface can be altered to conform to the selected and/or selectable menu, function and/or functional value.